UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is photographed during a press conference at the Direct Energy Centre on April 28 2011.The Globe and Mail
No one will be a more interested spectator than Georges St-Pierre at UFC 143 Saturday night.
But that doesn't mean the injured welterweight champion from Montreal will enjoy his evening watching Nick Diaz battle Carlos (Natural Born Killer) Condit for the interim 170-pound title at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
St-Pierre, who is recovering from a December knee surgery, is looking forward to discovering who he will face later this year to unify the mixed martial arts championship. Getting in the cage to confront Saturday's winner, however, is a different story.
Such a meeting is almost de rigeur in combat sports. But it is not St-Pierre's style.
"I don't like to be there. I don't like confrontation," St-Pierre told The Canadian Press. "But I know it's necessary for the promotion of the sports. The UFC, they force us to do it some time. They love it."
Josh Koscheck, who lost to GSP twice and coached against him on "The Ultimate Fighter," couldn't resist a jab at the champion for his lack of ease in such cage visits.
"He's an awkward little guy," Koscheck said with a chuckle.
Should Diaz win, it might make for an interesting faceoff. Diaz was quick to disrespect St-Pierre after beating B.J. Penn in October. St-Pierre, watching from cageside, was so irate that he demanded a fight with Diaz rather than the scheduled one with Condit.
UFC president Dana White was happy to oblige, only to see GSP felled by injury.
That prompted a fight for the interim title, so there is something on the line while the champion recovers.
And it means St-Pierre (22-2) gets to watch Diaz again from the expensive seats.
St-Pierre does not have happy memories of climbing into the cage to confront a future opponent. His attempts to trash-talk former champion Matt Hughes backfired, with St-Pierre later explaining he had misunderstood what Hughes had said about him and so had overreacted.
"It was a mistake on my part," St-Pierre said. "And I think it's disrespectful (to get into the cage). When a guy wins, I think it's his moment of glory and I don't want to overshadow that. He wins, he deserves that moment."
Whatever happens Saturday after the main event — and he knows it will be a lot more unpredictable if a hyped-up Diaz wins — St-Pierre says he will be up for it.
"I'll go with the flow," he said with a laugh.
St-Pierre's ire at Diaz seems to have subsided a bit and he agreed that the streetwise California fighter seemed more personable on the UFC Primetime series that aired prior to this weekend's card.
"Yeah, it's true," he said. "I don't think he's a bad human being. I just think to my eyes, he's disrespectful (to me) because I'm fighting him.
"But I'm sure if someone goes to see him as a fan, he might be a good human being. I don't think he's a bad person, I think he's a good person.
"I do not believe in bad persons. I think everybody has issues, like I do have issues. I'm not a perfect human being. I have qualities and issues, Diaz has qualities and issues. Even though I believe he's a good person, he just has maybe bad social skills. Maybe the camera makes him nervous. Who knows? But I don't think he's a bad person."
St-Pierre has respect for both men as fighters — Diaz is a 2-1 favourite according to many bookies — and warns any observer who might take Condit lightly.
"They should not. I wouldn't be surprised if Condit knocks Diaz out."
On the medical front, St-Pierre reports he is ahead of schedule after surgery to repair his anterior cruciate ligament.
"Everything (is) good," he said. "Now I just need to listen to the doctor and not go too fast, otherwise I will hurt it again."
That's easier said than done to St-Pierre, who is a workout fanatic and is constantly looking for new ways to improve his training.
But he says he has begun to realize that constantly training in top gear is counter-productive.
"I used to say 'I'll sleep when I die.' That's probably the stupidest thing I've ever said in my life. I will change my mentality a little bit on that."
St-Pierre learned the hard way.
He believes his latest setback was partly the product of pushing himself too hard.
He sustained a tear to his anterior cruciate ligament and a small tear to his internal meniscus in defending an innocent wrestling takedown. It happened seven weeks after he was forced to pull out of an Oct. 29 fight against Condit with a minor left knee injury (sprained medial collateral ligament) and a pulled hamstring on his right leg.
He believes while his left leg healed, he was overcompensating with his right leg. And when he returned to training, he kept going despite hyperextending his right knee trying to defend the takedown.
It wasn't until several weeks later, feeling continued instability in the knee, that St-Pierre had an MRI that revealed the damage.
As with almost everything else he does, St-Pierre delved into the surgery options available to him.
He eventually chose Neal S. ElAttrache, who serves as team doctor to the Los Angeles Dodgers and an orthopedic consultant with the Anaheim Ducks, St. Louis Rams, Los Angeles Lakers and Kings, and PGA Tour.
St-Pierre does not expect to resume full training until the end of July, expecting he will be ready to fight perhaps in November.
At present, he is working on his upper body via gymnastics. He is spending most of his time in Los Angeles, near his surgeon, with three to four hours a day spent on rehab.
On his down time, St-Pierre — a fan of paleontology — has visited the La Brea Tar Pits.
An eight-year veteran of the UFC who has spent some four years ruling the 170-pound division, the 30-year-old St-Pierre seems very comfortable in his own skin these days. Gone are the platitudes planted by sports psychologists. He speaks his own mind.
And St-Pierre says the time away is allowing his body to heal a slew of minor ailments, along with the major one.
But Koscheck wonders aloud about the knee.
"Hopefully he gets a speedy recovery," the Fresno-based fighter said. "But I know friends that have had that surgery and they say they're never the same after it."